


Not Quick Enough

by guineamania



Series: Tale of the Maximoff Twins [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fainting, Gen, Injury, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2018-03-29 11:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3894898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineamania/pseuds/guineamania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint wakes up a few days after the Ultron attack and his heart sinks at the thought of the Maximoff twins.<br/>But when someone requests to see him, that all gets thrown upside down and he gets a chance to repay the life debt he owes the speedster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Quick Enough

After Pietro fell to the floor, everything happened in a blur for Clint. The child he was going to give his life for was forgotten and Pietro became his world. He hadn’t meant it when he said he would kill the teen. He didn’t really want him to die; it was just joking. His heart was still beating but that soon faded when Hulk finally managed to take down the jet. The cold limp body was pulled from his arms by someone or other and he found the child in his arms instead. Had he picked him up? He must have. The next moment he was on the rescue carrier and being herded to the side of the ship where the injured were resting. And Pietro’s body was on the floor next to him. His brilliant blue eyes now closed, he could just be sleeping. He wasn’t, Clint knew he wasn’t. “Rough day huh kid,” Clint muttered as the last dredges of his energy vanished. He saw the medics crowd around Pietro and he wanted to tell them there was no point but he couldn’t. Maybe he would feel better after a nap. Yes a little nap sounded like a plan.

When Clint woke up he was laid in the medical bay of Avengers Tower. He felt rejuvenated but the pit in his heart was still there. He owed his life to the snarky rocket and would never be able to repay the debt. If there was one thing Clint hated it was unrepaid debts. Laura was sat next to him. Since Fury and the Avengers knew about his family now, he guessed it wasn’t too bad that she was here. “Hey sweetie, good to see you up,” Laura smiled, kissing him on the cheek as Clint fumbled into a sitting position. “Dr Cho says your wounds are all healed up and you can leave here whenever you want. But there is someone who wants to see you,” Laura continued, as Clint managed to manoeuvre himself onto his feet.  
“That’s great, I hate hospitals,” Clint muttered, allowing Laura to pull him down the corridor to the long term medical rooms. Who would be wanting to see him from there? Maybe it was Dr Cho, she would have reason to be here? Clint just shrugged to himself before Laura came to a halt and pushed him in to the room.

He was seeing a ghost. His concussion was worse than everyone thought because that was the only way he could possibly be seeing Pietro Maximoff laid in that bed, staring weakly back at him with a timid smile. “Didn’t see that coming old man,” the boy chuckled with a raspy cough. That was it. Clint fainted. Now Hawkeye had never fainted before in his life, but when you see someone who was shot with roughly two dozen bullets saving your life sat there being sarcastic. Fainting is a perfectly reasonable response. When he came to he was sat in a chair outside the haunted room. Pietro was alive. He could repay that life debt that he owed the teenager. “Feeling better?” Laura asked with a sigh as Clint ran his hands over his face. He was feeling better, the weight of Pietro’s death had been lifted from his chest and he finally believed the battle had been a success.   
“Yeah a lot better, how long was I out?” Clint asked.   
“First time for three days and second for about ten minutes. Dr Cho kept you in a medical sleep to heal your wounds as Pietro was using the regeneration chamber,” Laura explained. Three days, a lot could have happened in three days. On their way to Pietro’s room, after Clint insisting that he needed to, Laura explained that they were in the new Avengers base that Fury had been building. Steve was recruiting a new team of Avengers; Natasha was hunting for Bruce who had gone missing; Thor and Vision were discussing affairs on Asgard and Thor was planning to return there; and Wanda was only leaving her brother’s side to go to meetings with Steve and his new Avengers. Sometimes it sucked being one of the only ones without super speed healing or a super suit; so much time was wasted recovering after missions. 

Pietro was asleep when Clint arrived. Wanda was sat by his bedside curled up in a longue chair reading what looked like A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. “How’s he doing?” Clint asked as she peered over the top of her book to take him in.   
“Well, Dr Cho says it’ll be a long recovery process to get full control of his powers without overworking himself but he’s doing well. For a man who should be dead,” Wanda explained, her free hand ghosting over her brother’s knuckles as she spoke. Clint just stood there staring at the pale form of the speedster. It just wasn’t right. They had never seen him stand still without twitching or shuffling let alone laying so peacefully. “Sit down if you are going to stay, Pietro wants to talk to you,” Wanda spoke up again and Clint spotted her moving a chair to the other side of Pietro’s bed for him. It was still strange to witness her using her powers for such trivial things. It was slightly unnerving to think that they were on different sides a week ago. Clint slid back onto the chair as Dr Cho walked in. “Ah Clint, good to see you up and about again. How’s the patient?” she asked, directing the second half towards Wanda.   
“He’s just slept through since the last nurse was here, a few mutterings and things but nothing major,” Wanda explained with a found smile at the doctor. Wanda was certainly more trusting now that people had worked to earn her trust in saving Pietro.   
“Okay I need to wake him up now to take his readings,” Dr Cho explained and as if it was a practiced motion Wanda touched her hand to Pietro’s arm and it glowed a soft red. He began to stir in his sleep and Dr Cho chuckled at the awed expression on Clint’s face. “It is a much softer way of waking him up,” she explained bluntly. Pietro’s blazing blue eyes fluttered open weakly and Wanda pushed the bed into a sitting up position for him. It was clearly hard on her still seeing him so weak but that was outweighed by the delight of seeing him alive. Dr Cho checked all his vitals and the healing of the wounds before leaving the trio in peace. She said that the wounds were healed thanks to the regeneration casket and his internal organs were still healing; it was just confirmed that although he looked okay it was still going to be about five months of recovery and then physiotherapy. Wanda and Pietro however were determined that Pietro would be able to heal faster than that.

“Go get some food and air Wanda,” Pietro insisted when she was gone. “I’m sure Mr Barton is perfectly capable watching over me while you are gone,” he continued and reluctantly Wanda agreed with a curt nod. Then there was two. “Did the child survive?” Pietro asked as soon as the door was shut behind Wanda.   
“He did and he is well. His mother is grateful to you, she was so happy to find out that you survived,” Clint explained. Maria had left him a note after he passed out saying that the mother had been in contact with SHIELD and she wanted to give Pietro her thanks in person when he was better. With that simple reassurance it looked like tonnes of weight had been lifted from his shoulders; it had been plaguing his thoughts that a stray bullet may have hit the child. “It’s because of you that he is well, and that I am here to talk to you today and I will never be able to repay that debt,” Clint began, the emotions pouring out of him like he had feared they never would be able to.  
“I just saw the bullets and couldn’t let you die. The Avengers, they saved Wanda and that was my debt I had to repay,” Pietro confided in him. “The world moves in slow motion for me, I was the only one that had the chance to make that decision, to repay who all for helping us,” he continued, pouring out his soul. Clint felt selfish but he was delighted that Pietro felt he could trust him. Sacrificing your life for them seemed to make you trust someone.   
“Well kid, never do that again alright,” Clint replied, startling Pietro who was expecting a heartfelt admission from Clint about the event. “We all get into this knowing that one day we may not come home. However there is one worse feeling than that, the feeling that someone else won’t be able to go home so you can. Your sister was devastated when you died, you cannot be so reckless with your life. Promise me,” Clint continued and Pietro nodded, his respect for Clint growing every moment. 

When Wanda returned from her break Pietro had fallen back to sleep. He hadn’t felt like talking after their heart to heart but was determined that he wanted to know all about Clint’s family. Really meant a lot to Pietro and to see Clint so happy with his brought a smile to the teens face. “How was he?” Wanda asked, passing Clint a turkey sandwich and some water when she sat down. This moment made Clint glad that he had recruited the twins, they were kind and considerate now the hatred had been purged.  
“Good, he’s doing well,” Clint smiled. 

Clint left for the farmhouse that night. He knew he would miss the Avengers, and he know that he could never leave the life for good. But he didn’t want to. He hoped to be around for a while, to see the twins both grow to be good people and save the world in his stead.

**Author's Note:**

> So I was distraught at Pietro's death so decided to write this to make myself feel better.  
> However I love this verse so please comment with anything you would like to see!


End file.
